Pecan Pie, the great Corn Syrup-Free hunt

Because I did a poor job of planning, and what I did plan for our Christmas meal was stuff I'd never made - ie a Pecan Pie, I fond myself Christmas morning searching for recipes without corn syrup because I didn't have any on hand.

I found a good one.  It was mostly as I remembered pecan pie of past (or at least the way my pie aficionado sister-in-law makes them back in pie country).  The only hitch was I burned the top and the inside was still too runny. I think I'll blame my oven.  My local sister-in-law saved it from certain death however by suggesting I cover it in foil for the last 10 or so minutes.

http://www.chefeddy.com/2009/10/pecan-pie-corn-syrup-free/

Pecan pie, without corn syrup

Yield: 1- 9 inch pie

3	(3)	Large eggs	3
¾ Cup	(6 oz)	Water	180 g
1 ¾  Cup, well packed	(14 oz)	Medium brown sugar	420 g
½ teaspoon	( ½ tsp)	Salt	2.5 g
½ Stick	(2 oz)	Unsalted butter	60 g
1 Tablespoon	(0.5 oz)	Brandy or Rum (optional)	15 ml
2 teaspoon	(2 tsp)	Vanilla extract	10 ml
2 Cups	(8 oz)	Pecan pieces	240 g

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
2. Whisk together the eggs and water until very well blended. Add the brown sugar and salt. Melt the butter and add to the mixture. Add the Brandy and vanilla extract.
3. Place the pecans in the pie shell and pour the custard filling over the pecans, the pecans will automatically float to the surface. Since nine inch pie shells vary in depth and thus volume, not all the custard filling may fit.  By not mixing the pecans into the custard filling you will possibly prevent throwing away extra custard filling containing pecans.
4. Place in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 325°F (160°C) and bake until the center of the pie is set and no longer trembles when touched, about 65 minutes.

Christmas Potatoes au Goat Gratin

I threw this together with out measuring but here it is basically:

Slice about 7 potatoes
Place 2 layers of thinly sliced potatoes in 9 x 13 baking dish
Over low heat melt 1/4 cup of butter and 2 tbsp goat butter
Add about 3 tbsp flour, wisking
Add 1-2 cups goat milk
Add 2 or more cups shredded white cheddar cheese

Tweak it to make it a thick soupy consistency.  Pour half or a bit less over first layer of potatoes.  layer the rest of the potatoes and pour the remaining sauce.  Cover with some shredded parmesan cheese and some panko bread crumbs.  Cover with foil and bake at 375 for an hour.  Take the foil off and bake for another 15-20 minutes to get it boiling and toasted up on top.

******Most important part*****
Don't TELL your diners that there is goat in it until AFTER they've had their fill.

Christmas Blueberry Muffins

Husband's family has blueberry muffins Christmas morning,  so we do as well.  I'm happy to replace the yeasty difficult -to-make hot cross buns I grew up with.

This is the recipe I've been using, found on allrecipes.com and it is really key to have fresh blueberries on hand:

"To Die For Blueberry Muffins"

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
3. To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Creamy Potato Soup

Dice/cube 4-5 potatoes, place in large pot
Add about 6 cups of broth (I use veggie) in pot
Boil until potatoes get soft (15 - 20 minutes), mash some of the pieces to thicken broth
Stir in 12 - 16 oz of cream cheese
Add 1-2 cups of frozen or (even  better) fresh corn kernels.
Salt and pepper to taste


What makes this soup extra awesome it topping it with freshly cooked crumbled bacon, chives/green onions, cheddar cheese, etc

'Tis the season to eat soup

We've been souping it up lately and loving it, mostly.  A pretty bowl (key) a side of delicious crusty bread, goat butter, and you've got a super cozy dinner.

Tonight I used this recipe for White Bean and Turkey chili, perfect for the pile o' turkey we are sludging through this week:
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/white-bean-turkey-chili-10000001545785/

Thanksgiving cocktails anyone?

What are we making this week?  I'm looking to add something to my sad little alcohol collection.  What is your must have alcohol for fun fancy holiday cocktails? 

P.S. No need to incorporate squash in this one

Pecan Crusted Tilapia with Israeli Couscous

I've written about tilapia before.  Perhaps my children are in a minority because they eat seafood, but I'd also bet that if a kid is willing to try fish, tilapia is your best hope.  It is mild and takes on sauces and crusty stuff so well you can really make the dish taste like anything. 

I groaned when I saw this on my meal plan but I pulled it together and got it on the table in less than 30 minutes with lots of interruption from the three angry young men in my house.

In cuisinart:
Candied Pecans
Cayenne pepper
salt
pepper
mustard powder

coat fillets in evoo, then in the nut mixture

bake at 350 for about 8 minutes on first side and 5 minutes on the flip side.

Israeli couscous - I use a box from Trader Joes.  I use vegetable broth instead of water and it adds a bit of taste.  Kids loved it, so did the Roomba.

Padron Pepper Corn Cakes, Chantenay Carrots, and Mixed Green Salad with Bacon Fat Dressing

Let me introduce you to a delicious, light, vegetarian (minus the bacon fat dressing) late summer dinner.

Jalepeno Corn Cakes from Sunset Magazine.  I substituted some CSA padron peppers I had on hand and unnecessarily doubled the recipe for my family of 5, lots of extra batter for another day.

Chantenay Carrots from our CSA.  Two biggies cut in slices and sauteed lightly in evoo salt, pepper and honey.

Mixed greens and mushrooms tossed with with Bacon Fat Vinaigrette.

Enjoy a lovely white wine while making this meal.

Granola Bars and Such

Sampled one of these today and was delighted.  I think we spend half our monthly income on granola bars and seems a bit ridiculous when they should be pretty simple to make.  Please add more recipes or links to your favorite Bars.

http://www.damyhealth.com/2011/03/how-to-make-homemade-lara-bars/

http://www.joyfulabode.com/2010/09/12/grain-free-granola-bars/

*credit to Karen for the links and the sample of Cherry Pie!

Mexican Hot Chocolate Ice Cream (with coconut milk)

whisk 4 egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar
add 2 cans coconut milk
place over low heat whisking frequently/constantly
add 3/4 cup of baking cocoa
mix in one 10oz jar of fudge sauce (i used trader joe's)
whisk whisk whisk
stir in 1-2 tsp cayenne pepper and 1 tblsp cinnamon (adjust to taste)

put in fridge overnight

pour in ice cream maker next day - 25 minutes

Karen P's Chocolate Peanut Butter Coconut Ice Cream

This creative, inspiring, sedative of an ice cream came from the kitchen of a very newly minted Mother of Three Boys.  I'm thinking at this point with my third baby I was catching on to pre-heating the oven for our frozen pizza dinners and here is this lady whipping up her own creative ice creams.

Born from her newborn's intolerance of dairy, this friend has turned to coconut milk.  Coconut milk/cream is something with which I am slowly familiarizing myself, partly thanks to another lovely lady I know who is queen of coconut as far as I am concerned.

So, that's a lot of back story, let's get on with the next thing you HAVE to make:

whisk 4 egg yolks with 1/2 cup sugar. turn on mixer to low.
add 2 cans of full fat coconut milk.  (this time i actually only had 1 1/2 cans so I snuck in some 1/2 and 1/2 cow stuff)
pour into pot, put over low heat
then I melted a 4 oz dark hazelnut chocolate bar and 1/2 cup chocolate chips, mix in to custard mixture
mixed till it got thicker and added another 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.
add 2 tbsp vanilla

when steaming but not too boil-ee, put in fridge.  let sit overnight.

poor into ice cream maker.  as that runs, mix 1 cup peanut butter with 1/2 cup powdered sugar.  5 minutes before ice cream is finished, drop peanut butter in to mixture in lumps.

Did you say Ice Cream??

No?  Just the echo of my near constant thoughts?  Ok.  Were I a better blogger with a bit more uninterrupted time, I'd figure out a way to make a WHOLE ICE CREAM Section.  Like a whole Ice Cream parlor wing to a house, that's what I'd do.

Ok, well I know a few people out there who have more homemade ice cream miles under their belt than I, but I find it hard to imagine anyone has more ice cream calories under their waste band than I.  This has been The Summer of Ice Cream for our household...er, well mostly me.

Please do share.  Next up I will be sharing my interpretation of Karen P.'s Chocolate Peanut Butter Coconut Ice Cream.

Carrot and potato mascarpone whip

this was a side dish born of urgency, both because dinner needed to get made fast and because these ingredients needed to make a graceful and timely exit from my kitchen.

it is a light but savory side.

this was about right for 3 adults, i wish i had more.

3 small potatoes
half a bag of baby carrots
(the portions came out to maybe 2/3 carrots, 1/3 potatoes)

boil these in salty water

when all's soft and smoosh-able, drain and dump in to a mixing bowl with about 4oz mascarpone
whip, add generous amount of dried minced onion, salt and pepper.

Cooking Thought of the Week

Always cook double when making Mashed Potatoes.

Later in the week you can use them for a fast Shepherds Pie.  Consider this also if you are grilling/smoking/roasting meat to go with those initial mashed potatoes, because the chopped up left-over meat will taste kinda extra fancy in the pie in place of ground meat.

Wouldn't it be nice if this blog had audio, and I could hire Jack Handy to read these entries to you?

Fast Sauces/Dips

If I were more web-savvy I would make a special page just for sauces.  Although nearly all of mine start with one key ingredient: Greek Yogurt, and that may not make for a very interesting page.  However these sauces have really helped me sell dishes in the past so I feel I should pass them on.

Greek yogurt
garlic salt
chopped basil
one small squirt of Dijon mustard

this is really good on eggs.

more to come as they occur to me...

Tilapia Asparagus Pie

Well I had to kind of wing with with the fillo dough.  I folded about 5 layers spraying cooking oil between each sheet.

Spread:
4 oz creme fraiche (sour cream would be fine)
4 oz grated Parmesan
4 oz cream cheese
1 tbsp minced garlic

smooth that out on the fillo, i had to use my fingers because the spatula was ripping up the fillo.

on that, chopped and sauteed asparagus (sauteed in evoo salt and pepper), about 6 stalks
on that, oven baked tilapia (2 fillets), broken up

5 more layers of fillo. sprayed with oil.
bake for 15 minutes at 300.

Delish.  Husband and I could have easily polished this off between the two of us.  If I make this again I will double it and use a larger pan.  I used a 6x10 baking dish this round.

Fillo Love of Pastry!

In case I've inaccurately portrayed myself as anything but a dingbat in the kitchen, I'd like to talk about pastry in order to make it clear that I don't know what the crap I'm doing.

I accidentally bought fillo sheets in the freezer section at Whole Foods when I meant to buy "Puff Pastry."  When I've bought puff pastry in the past it's been Pepperidge Farms brand and I've had great luck making various fish pies, veggie tarts, etc.

So thinking of puff pastry, you can imagine my surprise when I unrolled 20 sheets of cobweb-fragile paper-I-mean-dough.

Need to break.  On cue, children are requesting we visit a restaurant 10 minutes before dinner is ready.

.....

Eggs Chezmoi Maintenant

...as in - eggs on anything you have available right now at your house.

tonight Eggs Chezmoi, was this:
poached egg atop a salmon and tuna spread atop whole wheat sourdough toast, all topped with hollandaise sauce.

poached egg, using a tip from sister, i poached the egg using a cheaty trick (never done this in any form before) (poaching an egg, that is - cheaty tricks?  all the time).  follow the link, but essentially you splash vinegar in a mug of water, create a vortex (not as godlike as it sounds) and drop egg in, stab the yolk once quickly place in microwave, top with a plate or lid and microwave for 80 seconds.  works well enough for these unrefined egg poachers. 
(http://www.wikihow.com/Poach-an-Egg-Using-a-Microwave)


Salmon and Tuna Spread:
in processor dump all:
2 stalks chopped green onion
small handful fresh basil
1 can salmon
1 can tuna
7 oz prepared bruschetta
bit of evoo
salt to taste

hollandaise sauce, cheaty tricky:
started with recipe from bon appetit:
using hot water heated but dried off blender add 2 yolks and 2 tbsp lemon juice
then added melted frothy 2 1/2 sticks butter
salt and pepper to taste.

well, as i copy that down i can see where i veered off track.  i only added 1 1/2 sitcks of butter, perhaps that is why it was too runny to work, so i turned to my trusty greek yogurt and added to large dollups of that to thicken it up - worked like a charm. 

here again, think of all the possibilities.  ooh, if only i'd had some smoked salmon on hand.  or any kind of coarsely ground vegetable spread.  the possibilities are endless.

Rainbow Root Soup

this sounds gross and healthy, but i swear as it is cooking i am having a hard time not slurping it down before it's done.  it is a warm thick flavorful (not to mention colorful, yow! that's really freakin' purple) comfort soup.  will be serving with whole wheat baguette and goat butter, and ran across some cheeses i sliced and put out with the bread.

ingredients (can so easily be switched around with various roots):
2 orange carrots
1 small yellow carrot
1 large beet (this really dominated the soup which was delish, but if you aren't a big beet fan it'll bother you, as it did my children - absolutely horrified they were)
1 big leek, just the bottom half
1.5 cups pureed spaghetti squash (just what i had on hand, could replace with any other squash cubed and roasted with the rest of the stuff)  (and yes, admittedly this is not a root)
1/4-1/2 cup evoo
salt, pepper, garlic salt
2 tblsp heavy cream (totally aptional)

in pan, toss with evoo, salt and pepper:

3 Carrots, large chopped pieces (one of mine was a yellow carrot)
1 large beet, peeled and chopped

Roast at 350 for 20 minutes

take pan out

add 1 sliced up leek and stir all up

roast again for 10-15 minutes more

poor in food processor.  blend, add evoo - perhaps 1/4 cup

now - as you remember i had an abundance of spaghetti squash from last year garden so i roasted a bunch, pureed, and froze.  i put about 1 cup of thawed pureed squash in the blender.

i keep forgetting to buy vegetable stock so i mixed up some of the vegetable base (paste) with warm water, about 1.5 cups, and added that to the blender.

now it's thick, and sitting in my cuisineart and i just want to eat it straight out, but i plan to heat it in a pan and figure out if it needs more oil, water, or cream - i assumed i'd add cream but we shall see.  i'll keep you posted.

well i added just a dash of heavy cream and a small bit of garlic salt cause i can't help myself with the garlic.  it's super thick, definitely something you can scoop up with dry bread.  hearty for sure.

you can see how easy to vary this

Pasnips and Carrot Puree - Thank you Martha

Yesssssssss, I used all my CSA parsnip and carrot allotment this week.  Thanks to this recipe from Martha Stewart:

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/carrot-and-parsnip-puree

I followed this loosely, used a whole large onion, etc.  it was yummy.


I served some reconstituted pork left-overs (briefly pan fried in evoo) with a dollop of left-over green garlic sauce from my earlier post.

Cream and all things related

As I've made clear in posts before, I have an (un)healthy appreciation for dairy products and particularly cream.  Child #1 has been identified as having a dairy "allergy" but seems not to actually react but I have messed around with removing it and using substitutions - the inspiration for my poll.

He prefers Hemp milk so far but we've used them all.

However, I developed a fixation on creams and their many forms when visiting relatives in the UK.  Yesterday I impulsively picked up a can of Nestle table cream at an asian food market.  In looking up what exactly one can do with "table cream" I found this little gem of a webpage:

http://www.foodsubs.com/Dairyoth.html

It is basic info I was lacking on the creams available.  Love it.

Savory smoked chicken and spinach crepes with creamy green garlic sauce

Kitchen guest performer Husband made the crepes, I have had incredibly bad luck with those suckers but he seems to have it under control.

We stuffed them with pulled smoked chicken, sauteed in garlic and evoo spinach and drizzled a creamy sauce over.

Sauce:
1/3 cup cream cheese
1/3 cup sour cream
4 green onions
1 green garlic
1 generous sprinkle of garlic salt

food processor.

You'd think I'd call it creamy green onion sauce, but that green garlic really packs a punch and nearly brought the sting to a "too spicy!" level for the kids.

Served steamed broccoli with my new chef basket, woohoo!  Kids declared it the best meal ever.  For real.

Fish Tacos with red cabbage and lime and green onion sour cream sauce

3 Tilapia fillets, baked at 400 for about 20 minutes or less, flipping over half way through

Separate fish with fork in baking dish and let sit on stove top as you begin heating the fry pan.

Shredded red cabbage off to side in a dish

Oil fry pan, place one tortilla (we used flour just cause we like em') wait till it starts to puff up

Remove to serving dish, oil side up, place fish flakes, red cabbage fold up and push to side of dish.

repeat with the rest - made 5 large tacos.

Mix sour cream, chopped green onions, lime juice in food processor.  As usual, I find the sauce to be the best part.

I served this with fresh chopped strawberries and some orange slices.

Yay!!!! It's the CSA!!

Prepare for (hopefully) an uptick in posts as my kitchen has been flooded with veggies!  Love to hear your thoughts on leeks and kale.

Garlic Ricotta sauce

I used this on left over tri-tip.  That's my cure-all for left-over meat - a fantastic sauce.  However, this would have been nice tossed with pasta as well.

Roast 5-6 garlic cloves in olive oil
pour the oil and cloves in to a fry pan
add a bit more oil and two stalks of green onions, chopped
sautee for a bit and then add two short pours of veggie broth
simmer for 10 minutes
pour into food processor
add:
about 5 ounces of ricotta (two large spoonfulls)
1/4 cup of feta (that's just what i had left)
squeeze juice of half a small lemon

puree.  add some salt and some more oil to taste and alter the texture as you see fit.  this was easy and could be changed around so much with more adventurous cheese choices.